The mother binary: fundamental conflicts facing women within the green movement, with reference to continental Green parties and the 21st-century ecofeminism debate

The issue of whether caring, mothering, and nurturing is something to be escaped, celebrated, or androgynised presents particular challenges to feminists in the green movement. From the German Green Party in the early and mid 1980s to the Third World ecofeminists of today, the debate has proved a central site of unresolved conflict for a movement essentially concerned with ecology and nature. This paper explores the relatively new theory of ecofeminist citizenship, which seeks to value traditional female caring roles as an act of citizenship, and suggests that it offers significant possibilities for finding a way forward.